


Finding Home

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Category: Avengers
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, I'm not sure if I rated this right., PTSD, Violence, going to make up my own resurrection scene for Quicksilver, hope that's okay with ya'll, probably torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-09-30 12:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10163441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: A fun team/family bonding fic for the Avengers, along with mystery, fighting, violence, and possibly death. (Did I say that out loud?) Set post-Infinity war





	1. Somebody Once Told Me...

**Author's Note:**

> And all the Voltron fans cried out in relief as I stopped writing fanfic for them, leaving to torture another fandom. Hi, this is my first (and probably my only) fan fiction for the Avengers, hope you like it! comment and let me know how I do!

“Lily, sweetheart, go get the mail please.” Eight-year-old Lily Embers bounced up and grabbed the keys. Maybe there would be mail for her, from her friends at summer camp! That would be exciting. She skipped out the door, ignoring her mother’s plea to put on some shoes. The night was cool, but the pavement was still warm from the heat of the day. Lily looked at the stars, so big and bright. The best time of night. Then the cold barrel of a gun was pressed to her head.

            Steve Rodgers looked at the tracks on the ground. Yeah, he’d definitely passed this way. A big snake man wasn’t exactly hard to track. He followed the tracks, keeping his eyes peeled, and then he saw them. The deranged Hydra experiment, and a little girl, with a gun pressed to her head.

            “Don’t move, Captain, or I’ll blow her brains out.” Steve kept his distance, unwilling to let the girl come to any harm. He couldn’t let this criminal get away, not after he’d killed those police officers, but he certainly couldn’t let him add this scared little girl to his murder list. He edged closer, and the snake man’s finger tightened on the trigger. Not that way then. He subtly reached for his shield, but the man’s heat vision caught the movement.

            “Try it, and we’ll see how far her blood spatters on the pavement.” The girl shifted and he shook her.  “Hold still brat. You can’t wiggle away from me.” She frowned and opened her mouth, chomping hard on his finger. He let out a sound that was somewhere in between a scream and a hiss. Steve took this as an opportunity to grab his shield. Then the snake-man pulled the trigger, the bullet going through her head. He released the body, and tried to slither away, but the captain was on him in a moment, wrestling him. The snake half wrapped its coils around him, pinning him. He opened his mouth, and fangs jutted out. His tail rattled. Of course they’d have used a rattlesnake. Steve struggled against the coils to no avail, watching the fangs get closer and closer.

            A muffled bang sounded, and a hole appeared in the snake man’s head. He looked at Steve in surprise, but Steve had no answers to give him. The coils went slack, and Steve shoved them off. Standing behind the corpse of the snake man was the little girl, alive and well, holding a smoking pistol. Steve reached for her.

            And his hand passed right through her, as if she weren’t there. So that was how she was alive. She shrank away from him and disappeared.

            “Wait! Don’t go!” she slowly reappeared. She _was_ turning invisible; it wasn’t just his imagination.

            “You’re Captain America.” It wasn’t a question.

            Steve answered anyway. “Yes.”

            “I'm Lily. People want to arrest you.”

            “Yes.”

            “You have superpowers”

            “I suppose you could call them that.”

            “You’re like me.”

            “We have different abilities, but yes.”

            “You know people who could teach me how to use them.”

            “I do.”

            “Take me with you. I want to know how to use them.”

            “I can’t. As you pointed out, people want to arrest me. But I’ll come back for you, Lily. Once my name is cleared, I’ll come back for you, I promise.” She nodded gravely before whispering softly in his ear. He had no idea why she was telling him this, but he was sure it would come in handy later. He nodded and ran. He would be on the run for another six years.


	2. That Somewhere Out There...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm sorry if chapter one put you in a coma, chapter two isn't much better, but things will get better, I promise. The chapter titles are all going to be lines from random songs that I thought would fit. If there's a ... that means the next title is the next line of that same song.

“Have you found her yet?”

Tony Stark blew out an exasperated breath, gritting his teeth. “Cap, I will tell you when I’ve found her. But it is really hard to find _one_ teenage girl in the _whole United States_ when the only things I know about her are that her name is Lily and she lives in Texas, the _second most populated state._ Now go away and stop pestering me unless you remember something important, like her city or county or something.”

 Steve sat down. He couldn’t understand why this was taking so long. He had hoped Stark would be able to just plug her name and state into the search engine and find her in an instant. Then again, he had checked all over the Texas social media and had found absolutely nothing. She either didn’t have social media, or had taken steps to avoid anybody from finding her online, which was pretty clever. He wondered how she did it. Possibly by staying away from all electronic devices, but most girls her age that Steve saw were attached to their electronics. A hazy memory came back to him, of Lily whispering in his ear. He leapt to his feet.

“Tony, if someone had an account on a website, one that required an e-mail, do you think you could track down the e-mail address?”

Stark snorted. “What kind of an amateur do you think I am? Of course I can. I suppose you remember something?”

“Yeah, a story, she told me she wrote a story, published it online.” He told Tony the website and the name of the story. He accessed it within seconds. Something about aliens and robots and… dads?

“This seems a little… violent for an eight-year-old to write.”

“Focus, Cap. We’re not here to read the story.” Stark clicked on the user, and tracked down the e-mail address. “Aw, it’s a shell e-mail. This girl is _good_ at throwing people off her scent.”

“A shell e-mail?”

“Yeah. Not her real e-mail, the one she uses with her friends and official junk, a shell e-mail used for gaining access to websites without giving away her actual e-mail. If some freak on the Internet tried to stalk her, she could ditch it without getting rid of important news and links. _And_ , here’s the clincher. It’s been accessed from several different laptops, all of them school laptops, so we don’t know where to find her.”

“Can’t you just access the school data?”

“I did. There’s about three or four different Lilies in the school, and you don’t have an actual age for her. To find out which it is, we’ll have to do a more extensive search-”

“Or you could just e-mail her.” Steve grabbed the computer, typed up a few words and hit _send_.

@TonyStark: hey, Lily, want me to pick you up now?

@soccerhobbit: Okay, who are you and how did you get my e-mail?

@TonyStark: I tracked it down from your story online.

@soccerhobbit: That’s freaky and stalker-ish, I don’t know who you are, but stay out of my business.

@TonyStark: Come on, it’s Captain America, remember the snake-man?

@soccerhobbit: how do you know about that?

@TonyStark: Because I was there.

@soccerhobbit: No, seriously, spill.

@TonyStark: No, seriously, I was there. I remember you shot him, I remember you told me about your story, the guy was half rattlesnake, you were getting the mail. You told me your name was Lily and people wanted to arrest me. You told me you wanted to come with me.

@soccerhobbit: Well, you certainly have some details, but tell me one thing. If you can remember this, I’ll tell you my address. What brand of shoes was I wearing?

@TonyStark: You were barefoot.

            There was nothing for a moment or two. Steve held his breath, waiting for Lily to answer back.

@soccerhobbit: It _is_ you! This is where you’ll find me, but you better have an excuse for my mom, because she won’t accept the truth.

            221b Baker Street

            Wimberley, Texas.

  1. Come soon.



**_________________**

 

            “Hello, Mrs. Embers, I am glad to inform you that your daughter, Lily Embers, has won a scholarship to a special school in New York. It’s a school for gifted children, and I hope you’ll accept. It’s a once in a lifetime chance! Transport, accommodations and meals will be arranged, if you choose to let her come.” Mrs. Embers stared, open-mouthed at him. Tony grinned on the inside. Poor lady looked like she was going into shock.

            “I… I guess… But it’s so far away! In New York! And what exactly did she win this for?” Lucky he had a fake purpose for that.

            “Your daughter has a unique talent for writing, which we want to help her explore. We will also provide funds and connections to editors and publishers for her first novel.” Stark saw a girl who could only be Lily descend the stairs.

            “I suppose you heard all that?”

            “I did.”

            “It’s up to you, Lily. You’re a big girl, and I want you to make your own decisions.” There was barely any hesitation.

            “I want to go.” Her mother sighed.

            “You do know what that means, though, right? You wouldn’t be able to see us except whenever they let you.”

            “I know, mom. But I want to. I want to get this education.”

            “Pack your bags, Ms. Embers. Here’s your ticket, be at the airport in time to catch your flight tomorrow, goodbye.” He left, feeling distinctly proud of himself for no apparent reason.

**_________**

            “Bye mom!”

            “Call when you get there!”

            “Yes, ma’am! I will call tonight. Miss you!” Tony watched, his throat choking up as he watched her hug her mom and an older girl who had to be her sister goodbye. Was this what having a family was like? Was this what he’d missed? He shook his head to clear it. All these emotions would cloud his vision. It was good he didn’t have conflicting emotions about family. At least that’s what he told himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 221b Baker street for the Sherlock nerds out there! Love ya'll! Poor Tony. This whole family/emotion thing will come in later. The website, was, of course, archive of our own, and the fanfic vaguely mentioned was mine. I wish the e-mail thing would happen.


	3. Was a Girl with Love in Her Eyes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lily meets the team. She and Tony are going to be constantly at each other's throats in a Texas .v. New York argument the whole fan fiction, by the way.

“Subject shows no signs of genetic mutations.”

            “There has to be something, she can’t have powers from nothing! Scan again!”

            “Mutation detected. Subject suffers from dysgraphia.”

            “What even is that! I’m not a biologist!!”

            “It’s a learning disorder. Causes bad writing and spelling. Is that all your fancy machine does? I could’ve told you that. Can I come out now?”

Tony slumped in his seat. “Yeah, fine, how do you have powers without any mutations?” Lily hopped off the scanner and patted his shoulder.

            “Sometimes inexplicable things happen, things we can’t explain with science. We call them miracles.”

            Tony snorted. “Not an answer. I don’t believe in miracles.” She patted his shoulder again.

            “Well, I do. And maybe, maybe, someday you will too.”

            “Don’t hold your breath.”

**__________________**

 

            “Cap!”

            “Well, if it isn’t my favorite little superhero!”

            “I bet you say that to all the girls.” Tony watched, slightly jealous of Cap’s easy relationship with Lily, even though they had only met each other once before, although he had seen it happen several times. Cap was the favorite, the nice one who gained trust, and he was the scientist who contradicted their views on miracles while simultaneously dissecting them via computer.

            “Just to you, flower girl! Geez, you grew!” She laughed.

            “Well, yeah, it’s been six years! If I didn’t grow there would be something wrong with me, right?”

            “Aw, look at the two of you. Like siblings, or something.” Lily wrinkled her nose at Tony, and the color bled out of her brown hair, as well as her brown eyes so that her hair was blonde and her eyes blue, matching Steve’s. He dropped her in surprise.

            “Holy stars, when did you learn to do that!”

            “Holy, star-spangled-banner, by my great Uncle Sam’s white beard,” mimicked Tony, “I can’t believe my American eyes! What in the name of the great U.S. nation did you do?” Steve shot him a glare, and he shrugged, smirking.

            “A little bit ago. Around when high-school started, it kicked in. Really weird.”

            “Anything else we need to know about?”

            “Not that I know of.”

            “Wait, you’re actually _from_ Texas?” Lily looked at Stark, who was reading her file, a confused look on his face.

            “Yeah… you picked me up…”

            “I thought you’d moved there!”

            “No, born and raised in Texas, where the air isn’t choked with so many chemicals that we can’t breathe it.”

            “You’ll get used to it, miss hillbilly. I assume this means you know how to handle a gun?” She glared daggers at him, and he wasn’t sure why. Had he said something wrong?

            “We don’t all carry guns,” she muttered through gritted teeth, “I have shot a gun _once_ in my whole life, and it is pure accident that I shot my target and not my own foot. Anything else you want to clear up about my personality based on where I was born?”

            “So _that’s_ why you have a funny accent.”

            “I… Don’t… Have… An… Accent. If you want to be attacked, keep talking, Stark.”

            “Ya’ll. Ain’t. I swear, you have your own language!”

            “Of course we do, we were our own country before we decided to grace America with our presence as a state!”

            “But seriously, _ya’ll?_ ”

            “Literally _every_ other language has a plural form for you. It’s only English that doesn’t, we were simply trying to correct this error. Cap, you’re taking me to meet the others before you have to arrest me for murder.

**________________**

 

            “Everybody, this is Lily! She’s our newest recruit, be nice! Lily, this is Hawkeye, or Clint Barton,” a friendly smile and a cheerful wave, “Black Widow, or Natasha Romanov,” a polite nod with a smile, “Falcon, or Sam Wilson,”

            “Hey, kid, welcome to the gang!”

            “Scarlet Witch, or Wanda Maximoff,”

            “It’s about time we got another girl around here.”

            “Ooo, your accent is pretty! So is your makeup!” Wanda smiled at the adorable little teenager. She could be friends with this one.

            “Bruce Banner, or the Hulk,” a nod and a handshake, “Vision,”

            “A pleasure to meet you, Miss Lily.”

            “Ant-man, or Scott Lang,”

            “Hey.”

            “Spider-man, or Peter Parker,”

            “Oh, uh, hi.”

            “T’challa is busy in Wakanda, and, of course, Thor.”

            “Welcome, Lady! It is good to meet the one Captain frequently spoke of! I hear you are from a land of horses and farms! An honorable place indeed, where horses are transport still!” Lily opened her mouth to argue, but then apparently decided better of it. She was going to fit in just fine here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Thor. Dysgraphia is a real thing, I have it, so, if I start to misspell a lot of words or the story seems to go out of order, I'm sorry.


	4. And Flowers in Her Hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is marked Gen, but I also said it might change. I'm too lazy to change the tags, so, heads up, minor Tony/Pepper. Pony? Tepper?

“What is going on in here?” Lily looked up from where Wanda was braiding her hair, Wanda’s hair in a French braid already.

            “We’re braiding hair.”

            “Why?”

            “Because.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “That’s your reason? Because?”

            “Yup. Braiding is fun, but I had to teach Wanda how to do it, because she never learned.”

Tony turned to Wanda. “I would expect this from her, but from you?”

She shrugged. “Can’t I be a girl sometimes?”

            “No, stop, you are _ruining_ the order of the universe! Next you’ll be painting nails and having a sleepover!” Lily turned to Wanda, her eyes alight with excitement.

            “Ooo, can we?”

            “I don’t see why not.” Stark sniffed. Did he smell… flowers? Sure enough, there was a red rose stuck in the end of Wanda’s braid, and a basket of daisy-looking flowers ready for Lily’s braid.

            “Did those come from the bush in front of my house?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Good, take them, I hate those flowers.” Wanda tucked a couple of them into her braid. Lily frowned.

            “Because they remind you of Pepper?”

            “What? No, I…”

            “They were her favorites, weren’t they?”

            “No, I just…” He sighed. “Yeah.”

            “You loved her.”

            “More than anything.” Wanda left.

            “More than just a girlfriend, huh.”

            “Yeah, we…” he cleared his throat. “We actually got married. For a bit. Probably a couple of years before you were born. Had a daughter, she was great. But then… everything started happening, and we thought it would be for the best if we… If we split ways.” He looked away. “Anyway, that was a long time ago. We’re over now.”

            “If you love her, you should tell her that.”

He chuckled bitterly. “I wish it were that simple.”

            “It should be.” She gathered the rest of the flowers and left.

**______________________**

           

            “Miss Potts?” Pepper looked up from her gardening. A sweet looking teenaged girl was standing at her gate.

            “Can I help you?” the girl handed Pepper a handful of daisies, beautifully simple.

            “I just thought… you looked like you needed them.” She turned and bolted to where she’d come from. Pepper lifted the flowers to her nose and inhaled. Her favorite scent. They reminded her of a man she’d loved a long time ago…

            _Here. Hold still. Pepper laughed as Tony tucked the flower behind her ear._

_What’s this? A daisy?_

_When there is someone as beautiful as you, only simple things can complement you. The other flowers would get jealous._

Pepper sighed contentedly, just sitting with her nose in the flowers for a while, reveling in their scent and in their memories. She missed him.

            Lily skipped back to where Clint was waiting in the car.

            “Thanks for bringing me!”

He grinned. “No problem. I think Tony needs a good girl. Keep him out of trouble for once.”

            “Or get him into more of it.” He laughed and backed the car up, about to drive back, when something zipped behind the car. Clint slammed on the brakes.

            “What the…”

            “What?” He shook his head.

            “I thought I saw… Must have been an illusion. It couldn’t have been… Nah, not possible.”

            “What?”

            “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” And then Pepper’s house exploded with a large BOOM!

            “Pepper!” Lily started to climb out of the car, Clint not far behind. She phased through the broken wall, looking frantically for the red-headed woman. Then she found her, trapped under wreckage. She pulled desperately, Clint beside her, but they weren’t strong enough. And then Tony was there, pushing with them, a bouquet of daisies left on the ground.

            “Pepper! Pepper, respond to me!” She stirred briefly, and Tony held her.

            “Hey… Mr. Engineer…”

            “Pepper, don’t die, hold on!”

            “Nice to see you again…” He carried her to his car, ready to drive her back to the tower.

            “Pepper, don’t die, please, I can’t lose you, I… I love you!” She smiled faintly.

            “And I love you too. I love you. Now, don’t let me die!” Lily watched, crying, while Clint hugged her to him. The flowers tumbled out of her hair.

**________________________**

 

            “Mr. Stark? She’s going to be fine. Ms. Potts wants to see you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonding moment!


	5. Somebody Once Told Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scarlet Witch and Lily go off on their own separate mission. Or, Wanda and Lily do something incredibly stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the chapter title is the same as the first chapter's, but it's from a different song.

“Come on, Wanda, talk to me about this.”

            “There’s nothing to talk about.”

            “You know something’s up, come on, we need your opinion on this, you knew him the best.”

            “I _said_ there’s nothing to talk about. He wouldn’t. Never, if he was alive.”

            “Wanda, _something_ ran as fast as light behind my car, and there’s only one person we know who can do that!”

            “I would know, don’t you think, Clint?”

 Captain America got to his feet. “Everybody, stop. Wanda, if you did know absolutely anything, you’d tell us, right?” She nodded her head. “Clint, there are infinite possibilities. Remember, Wanda and Pietro gained their powers because they were experimented on. If the scientists took notes that someone found, they could possibly re-create those powers. Until this is all straightened out, everybody keeps a sharp lookout. Done.” He walked out of the room.

**___________________**

“Wanda?” She smiled briefly.

            “What’s up?”

            “Um, who were they talking about? Earlier?”

            “My brother. Pietro.”

            “What… What happened?”

            “In… in the war with Ultron, he, he was killed.”

            “And he had super speed?”

            “Yes.”

            “Do… do you think that maybe the guy could be him? At all?”

Wanda exhaled, closing her eyes. “I don’t know. I would think I could tell if he was alive, but then, he could have something to prevent my mind-reading. I just don’t know anymore.” She opened her eyes. Lily was heading out the door. Wanda smiled. “You’re going to go find him, aren’t you?”

            “Yup.”

            “And nothing I can say will stop you?”

            “Yup.”

            “Can I join you?”

            “Yup.”

            “Is that the only thing you can say?”

            “Yup.”

**______________________**

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Of course I’m sure. I… I need to know this. I need to know if my brother is alive.”

“Okay. Hold him still. Hey! You!” The man they were targeting turned and ran. Not with super speed, but he tried to get away. He bounced off of a glowing energy wall, and Lily tackled him. “Okay, buddy, spill. You’re a Hydra member that Shield’s been watching for a while. They don’t really think you’re dangerous, but I think you have information I want.”

“I don’t know anything, I swear! And even if I did I would never tell you! I’d do this!” he crunched down on his back tooth. Nothing happened.

“Suicide is a coward’s route, Mr. Lambeth.” Wanda slipped from the shadows, the cyanide pill he’d tried to take floating in a red energy bubble. “And I don’t respond well to cowards. Now. You will answer her questions, or you will regret it. There are ways of making you feel pain within your mind, you know.”

The man tried to make an appeal to Lily. “Listen, kid, you look nice, so why are you hanging out with this crowd? She’s a dangerous murderer, and you’re only going to hurt yourself. Just get off me, and we’ll pretend this never happened. You help me kill that monster, and I’ll quit being Hydra. Kapiesh?” Lily hopped off as she saw the glowing energy surround him.

“What did you call me?”

“A monster. Because you are one.”

“Crossing me is a bad idea.” Her tone was so dangerous that Lily half expected him to drop dead from hostility.

“Kill me in front of the little girl. I dare you. See how the admiration and affection she has for you turns to fear and revulsion.” Wanda stopped, dropping him as his words sank in, and Lily jumped back on him.

“Ooo, see, now you’ve messed with the wrong person. She was a little mad at you, but now I’m mad at you because you thought you could tear my friendship down like it was nothing. That means you don’t think highly of me, or my friend. And now you’re going to pay.”

“And what are _you_ going to do,” he sneered, “ _annoy_ me to death?”

A dangerous smile appeared on Lily’s face. “No, I think this will work rather nicely.” Her finger became intangible and she poked it into his arm. Not far, maybe an inch. And then she solidified it. Mr. Lambeth screamed, a scream cut off by Lily’s hand over his mouth. He stared at the crater in his arm. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the sounds of his pain.

“Oh,” he panted, “I see. You’ve never done this before, have you? You don’t like it. Heh. Well, that is interesting. You didn’t know that that would happen, did you? It could’ve just as easily blown off your finger.

“Shut up and tell me what you know about Pietro Maximoff.” She sounded miserable.

“You won’t do it again, will you? No, you won’t. I can deal with the pain the original wound gave me. Ah, young minds. So quick to jump in and yet they hate the consequences. What will you do to me if I refuse, hmmm?”

“I could kill you.” She said this with absolutely no heart in her voice. She was dead inside, it sounded like.

“But you won’t. and if you did, you’d get nothing. And anyway, my ride is here.” Lily felt something shove her off Lambeth. A moment later, another man appeared. Blonde with blue eyes, and, Lily realized with a start of horror, Wanda’s age.

“Pietro! What… what are you doing?!” Pietro’s gaze fell on his sister. With a start of horror, she realized that his eyes were blank. There was no emotion, no thoughts behind him. His mind was under the control of another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duh, duh, duuuuuun.


	6. The World Was Gonna Roll Me...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black Panther makes an appearance. So does Bucky.

“You did WHAT?!”

“We tracked down a Hydra agent and attempted to interrogate him, but that’s not the point, Steve, we-”

“YOU DID SOMETHING INCREDIBLY STUPID, THAT’S WHAT YOU DID, YOU COULD’VE DIED, and I… and I… Why would you _do_ something like that?!

“We… we just wanted to- to know. And we thought you would like it if we figured out who blew up Pepper’s house, and who the mystery person was and- and- and…” Her eyes filled with tears, and Steve swept her up into a hug.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, I just… I was worried Lily. You don’t know how to use your powers properly, and you tracked down a dangerous criminal, and I just want you to be _safe_. I would _never_ be able to forgive myself if something happened to you. Wanda, report.”

            “Our mystery person is my brother, Pietro Maximoff, and,” she swallowed, “his mind is not his own.”

**_______________**

            “Whoa, wait, you’re telling me that Pietro is under mind control?”

“Yes.”

“And do you know whose control he’s under?”

“No. That, I was unable to tell.”

“Well, that’s it, we have to rescue him. Still not a fan of mind control.”

Wanda smiled. “Thank you, Clint. But first, we need to know who’s controlling him.”

**________________**

“Don’t move.” Lily jerked awake, a man holding his hand over her mouth. His voice sounded vaguely familiar.

“Mmm! Mph! Mmmm!”

“Don’t try talking, either.” She kicked up, getting him right in the stomach and shoving him off of her. She opened her mouth to scream, but couldn’t, because his hand was over her mouth again. And for some reason, she couldn’t turn intangible.

“I _said_ don’t!” He dragged a struggling Lily out of her room and to the roof. _Oh, sweet Lord and Savior, he was gonna shove her off!_ “Stop it! I’m trying to help you!” She was spun to face him. Her eyes widened as she recognized him. Pietro Maximoff. His eyes were wide and alert and… kind. Obviously no longer under mind control.

“Better?” She nodded. “Not going to scream?” another nod. “Good.” He took his hand off of her mouth.

“What are you _doing_ here?! I thought you were under mind control, how are you here, how did you prevent my intangibility, what’s going on?”

“I don’t have much time to explain, but Hydra has me under mind control. They release it at night, but lock me up. I escaped tonight, but I’m not sure I can do it again. They’re trying to create more super people, and they’re using my DNA. I was honestly as surprised as you were that you couldn’t become intangible, I don’t know what happened. Listen. Their base is close by, in the city. Their cover is a store, a-” His eyes widened. “Get out of here! Now!”

“What? But…”

“They’re… starting… the… mind…Aaargh!” His back arched, and Lily could see the change happening.

“RUN!” She stumbled away, across the roof, trying to reach the stairs, but she was too late. The door slammed over the stairs, and Pietro was blocking her way, all the kindness gone from his eyes.

“Did you really think we would let you escape, after all he told you? The fool shouldn’t’ve come here. He has only doomed himself and you.” A shiver ran down Lily’s spine. That was not the voice that had spoken to her only a few moments ago. She ran for the fire escape, but was knocked over.

“Open fire!” Guns sounded, firing at the roof. Lily dropped down, sure she was about to die. When the guns ceased, she made another run for the fire escape, only to be shoved again, this time rolling over the roof. She barely managed to grab onto the edge, but Pietro was there, smiling that horrible smile that wasn’t his, stomping on her fingers. She gasped, trying to hold on, but _Geeze_ , it hurt like _hell_ and she could feel her fingers slipping. She screamed as they opened fire again, one of the bullets grazing her arm. Pietro stomped again, and again, her fingers were crushed, she let go, screaming, more bullets grazing her, still screaming, and then she wasn’t falling anymore.

“I got you. Don’t worry, kid, I got you.”

“T-Tony?”

“Hold on. We’re getting you inside, Cap, Natasha and Wanda are taking care of those _bastards_. You’re going to be fine.” A window opened, and they slid inside. Tony took his armor off, and then Lily was all over him, crying and babbling. Clint walked in, and Tony gave him a panicked _I don’t know what to do here_ look.

“Hey, shhh, it’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna be fine, I got you know.” Clint wrapped his arms around Lily, and she bawled into his shoulder. “Hey, now, it’ll be oookay. You’re going to be _just_ fine now, I’m here, it’s okay.”

“-want my sister.”

“Your sister? She’s in Texas, Lily.”

“Want my sister.”

“Tony, can you get her sister on Skype or something?”

“On it.”

“Want Kylie.”

“Hey, we’re getting her, don’t worry. Shhh. It’s ok, it’ll be okay.” She continued to cry into his shoulder. His shirt was wet with tears, but he didn’t mind.

“Hey, Lil-zee-halo, what’s up?”

“Kylie! Kylie, there were some people, and they attacked me, and stomped on my hands, and it huuuuurts.” Kylie gave them all a very sharp glare.

“What exactly is my sister _doing_ over there?! I was told she would be keeping herself safe from people who want to use her powers, so what is going on?!”

“You told her about your powers?!”

“’Course I did. She’s my sister.”

“Of course she did. Lily, honey, it’ll be okay.”

“But they had guns! And they shot at me!”

“I know, I know, Lily. But these guys are going to help you. And if they don’t,” another pointed glare, “They’ll answer to me. Be strong, okay?”

“Okay. Okay, I can do that.”

“Okay, I’ll see you soon, alright?”

“Okay, bye!” the computer shut off. Lily heaved a great, shuddering sigh. Clint wrapped her in a blanket before settling to examine her for injuries. She hissed as he touched her hand.

“This is broken; we need to get you medical attention.”

“Just a minute!” Steve walked in, followed by Natasha and Wanda. “Why did they attack her? And why were you on the roof?”

“Pietro brought me, but he wasn’t trying to kidnap me, he wanted to talk, he wasn’t under mind control. And then when we were talking, the mind control came back on, and there were people with guns, and they shot at me, and I fell off the roof.”

“He wasn’t under mind control?”

She nodded fiercely. “They lock him up at night, but he got out to tell me.”

“But why would he pick you and not his sister…”

“Wanda is still under some control of the government,” stated Natasha, “She can’t lead an assault without permission. Whereas the government has no idea Lily exists. Only people in the Avengers know about her. She’s off the map, she can do things.”

“Which she is _not_ doing.”

“Why not? Like I said, she’s off the map. And her powers aren’t loud and flashy, so she would have no problem infiltrating, grabbing Pietro and shutting them down without anyone noticing.”

“It doesn’t have to do with the government. I’m not sending her into Hydra. It’s too dangerous, and she’s only fourteen.”

“When I was fourteen, I could shoot a man from any position, infiltrate a government and shut it down.”

“She hasn’t been trained! You had intense training, but we haven’t really trained her yet! She’s not going.”

“So give her more training. Send her to Wakanda. It’ll keep her safe. She’ll learn a few things.”

Steve hesitated. “Fine. Wanda, you’re going with her. You were part of Lambeth’s interrogation, so they’ll be after you next. But first, to the infirmary.”

**_____________**

“Welcome back, Wanda. I suppose this is Lily?” Lily waved her bandaged hand at him.

“Hi! You’re T’challa? You’re big. Do you have any pet panthers? Can I explore that jungle? What do you eat here? Am I gonna get to fight one of those bodyguards?” T’challa blinked, disoriented by her rapid-fire questions.

“No, I don’t have any panthers, I think you should wait until your hand heals, lots of things, and maybe.”

“Cool! Whoa, those statues are _huge_!”

“Yes. Come with me. I’ll show you your room.”

**__________________**

Lily pushed open a door. It creaked softly and she slipped into the room. Inside was a giant tank-looking thing. And in it, frozen, was a man. Lily’s breath caught in her throat. One of his arms was missing, a bit of metal on the end. She put her hand on it slowly.

“That’s the Winter Soldier, or James Barnes.” Lily jumped about ten feet in the air, stifling a scream.

“What?! T’challa?”

“Yes. You shouldn’t be wandering around alone. It’s a big palace. You could get lost.”

“Why is he frozen?” the question popped out of her mouth before she could think about it.

“He wanted to be. He was brainwashed, and others who say the right words can control him. He wanted to protect the world from that, so here he is. He was Captain America’s best friend.”

“Mind control, huh?”

“Yes.”

“I wonder… Nah. Do… do you know the words?”

“No. they were in a little red book. I think Shield has it now.”

“Good to know. Thanks, T’challa!” She skipped out of the room.

**________________**

Lily glanced around, making sure nothing was watching her. It was nighttime, so she doubted it, but you could never be too sure. No one. She reached into her bag, past the clothes and various other things before her fingers felt leather. She grabbed the object and pulled it out. A small, leather-bound red book with words in Russian printed on the front.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh. What is she gonna do? Something very stupid I'm sure.


	7. I Ain't the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stark Tower is attacked. Or; the plot finally picks up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Bucky unfreezes!

 “Wanda! Wanda!” Wanda looked at Lily, who was charging her top speed. “Wanda!”

“Yes?”

“You know Steve’s friend is frozen in a block of ice?”

“Yes. He wants to be there.”

“Can you read Russian?”

Wanda blinked, surprised. “A little, yes.” Lily pulled out a familiar little red book. “Is that…”

“Yup. You think you can help me translate it?”

“Why would you want to translate that… that _thing_?”

“I want to figure out if there’s a way to get rid of the brainwashing. To pull it out of his mind, so he can be normal again.”

“That could… maybe work. Let’s get started.”

**__________________**

 

“Wanda?”

“Yes?”

“I think I know what we can do.”

“But reading the book produced nothing!”

“Yeah, but I think I know what we can do. I’m going to need you to trust me. No matter what, I need you to do what I say. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes. I think I can.”

“Good. Let’s go fix Bucky now.”

**_____________________**

 

There was a hiss as Bucky tumbled out of the cyro-sleep tank.

“Hold him!” Lily began reading the code words. Bucky freaked out and tried to grab her, but Wanda held him back.

“No! NO! Let me GO!”

“This is for your own good! Hold still!” Lily finished the code words, and Wanda let Bucky out of the energy bubble she’d been using to hold him.

“conaat?”

“gotov vypolnit.”

“Soldier, my orders are to forget the code words. If you ever hear them again, ignore them.  Ignore my orders if you don’t want to follow them. They have no power over you anymore. Understood?” Lily could see the struggle on his face as he tried to obey, unsure of what to do.

“Understood. Wait, who are you?”

“Wanda, read the code words.”

“But…”

“If it worked, nothing will happen.”

Wanda read the code words. “Soldier?”

“I don’t have to listen to you.”

Lily gave a scream of joy and jumped up and down. “It worked! It really worked!”

“What worked? I’m confused.”

Lily grabbed his hand and bounced up and down. “We got rid of the stupid code words! You’re free! You don’t have to hide anymore!”

He carefully detached himself. “And you are…”

She stopped bouncing, blushing. “Oh, sorry! My name is Lily! Steve found me, and he sent me to Wakanda because some people tried to kill me, but I’m okay. I took the little book thing from the library, because I didn’t know what it was, and I read it, and I figured out how to keep anyone from mind controlling you!”

“It wasn’t in the library. It was locked in a steel vault.”

“I get lost very easily.”

“With a heavy duty lock and walls.”

“Believe it or not, I spend most of my time intangible. So…” Wanda smiled and left, shaking her head and talking about letting T’challa know.

“I… I can’t go back out into the world.”

Lily stopped grinning, her brows furrowed. “Why not?”

“I’m a monster. I killed so many…” He shook his head.

Lily dropped down next to him. “You’re not a monster! It wasn’t your fault!”

“It was. I killed them. I hate myself.”

“Waste of time. You know, the world may see a monster, you may see a monster, but that’s not what I see.”

He snorted. “What does the opinion of one girl matter in a world of many?”

“Quite a lot when that girl has a whole crew of siblings and thirty cousins living all over the world that believe whatever she believes. Oh, and the Avengers as her friends. Listen, I’ve lived my whole life not caring what society, not caring what the world thought of me, and I’m happy because of it. If I act the way I’m supposed to act I’m called a goody-two-shoes, or something much less flattering, and when I don’t act like I’m supposed to I’m called a rebel or a jerk. So why bother? Just act the way you want to act, and don’t care what the rest of the world thinks.”

“That would be a lot more inspiring if it wasn’t said by a fourteen-year-old girl whose only friends are at least ten years older than her.”

“Hey! I have… two friends my age! In another state. Who I haven’t been in touch with since I left. Yeesh. I guess I can see what you’re talking about.”

Wanda burst in. “T’challa is gone! The Avengers tower is being attacked, and he left to help!”

Lily stood up, offering Bucky her hand. “What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Sit here and wallow in self-hatred, or save the world?”

He took her proffered hand. “Let’s get going.”

**________________**

 

“Cap’s gonna _kill_ us.”

“Not if we save his life, right?”

            Lily laughed. “I wish. He’ll thank us, and then he’ll kill us. You’re sure you can fly this thing, Wanda?”

“I’m sure. And if not, I’ll just hold it in the air and float it to New York. Here we go.”

The Quinjet blasted into the sky, leaving a squad of bodyguards on the ground, shaking their fists.

“Whooo! Go faster!” Wanda obeyed, and they shot across the sky. In no time they landed on top of the tower. They all rushed out, ready to fight their way down. Lily turned intangible and they walked into the room. All the men inside panicked as Lily disappeared and they opened fire, raking the room with bullets.

 Two guns exploded, and Lily’s grinning face appeared in front of the two men. “Boo.” Bucky punched them both, and Lily disappeared again, more guns exploding while Wanda created a shield for both herself and Bucky.

“I’m intangible, you idiots! You can’t hit me!” They panicked even further when her disembodied voice floated around the room. Their guns started not only to explode, but twist out of their hands of their own accord, surrounded by a red energy. And of course, they had the problem of being punched by Bucky. None of them stood a chance. Before long, they were all unconscious on the floor. The trio pressed on.

**____________________**

 

Tony backed away from multiple armed men, wishing he had his suit, but Friday was disabled somehow.

“Now, we can talk about this? You don’t really want to shoot me, do-” a gun sounded and barely missed him. “Oh, you do want to shoot me, so I guess I’d better-” he flipped a chair at them, running for the fire escape. A shot hit him right in the leg, and his legs folded beneath him. He clutched his leg, moaning in pain. They surrounded him, all pointing their guns.

“You wouldn’t kick a guy while he was down, would you?”

Then one of them grunted, dragged backwards, and the others turned around, surprised, and opened fire. There were grunts as they fell, and then silence. Tony peeked up, looked to see who his savior was. And reached for a gun.

“You! What are _you_ doing here?!”

Lily rushed into the room. “Oh, good, you found one, Tony, why are you pointing a gun at Bucky? He’s on our side, I promise.”

“That monster,” Tony snarled, “killed my parents.”

“Oh, boy. Here we go. Tony, he’s really sorry, and he never wanted to, and the first thing he did when we woke him up was start beating himself up over it, so stop it. He was different.”

“People like him _never_ change!”

“Neither do people like you!” Tony stopped, startled by this outburst. “You keep hanging on to everything,” she continued, “And you never stop to think how you should act, how they’re acting, what is going on! He just saved your _life_! And the first thing you did was point a gun at him! How would you like it if _I_ pointed a gun at _you_?!”

“But he killed…”

            “Get over it, you jerk! Basically what you are saying right now is, ‘oh, some guy shot my parents, and I’m super mad at the gun.’ He didn’t have a choice, so stop yelling at him! Be mad at the people who brainwashed him and sent him to kill your parents, not him, ok?”

“He’s a monster!”

“You know, you might see a monster, but that’s not what I see. You know what I see? I see a caring, fiercely loyal man who just wants to be accepted and given a second chance, but can’t because idiots like you can’t let go of what he had _absolutely no control over._ And you know what? If I have to choose between him and you, I’m choosing him. Because he is at least _trying_ to change, unlike _you_! She stood next to Bucky. He stared at her, his eyes grateful, and maybe a little unsure of how to react. And then the gun sounded.

Lily collapsed with a jerk, blood pooling on the floor around her. Bucky roared and ran to the window. A lone gunman was sitting on the building opposite the Tower. He picked up a fallen gun and threw it, threw it so hard it impaled the gunman. He ran back to Lily.

Stark was already there, examining the wound, feeling her pulse. “I think it’s gone into her lung, oh, I think it went into her lung!” He broke out cussing. Bucky covered Lily’s ears. “-ing bastards. We need to stop the bleeding.” Oh. His cussing fit was over. Stark took off his suit jacket and handed it to Bucky. “Rip it into shreds and use it for bandages. I’m going to see if I can get the system back on. Then we can get her to the medical center, and get those idiots out of here. They’ll be fighting the others right now, and hopefully we won’t need the weapons system.”

He limped to the computer. Bucky obediently tore the jacket to shreds. He gently lifted Lily’s shirt up, trying not to expose more than he had to, and examined the wound. The bullet had gone right through, thankfully, and wouldn’t have to be taken out. It had missed any bones, and the lung hadn’t collapsed. That was good, at least. As long as it didn’t get infected, she would be fine, provided they could stop the bleeding. He pressed the cloth to it, and when the bleeding had slowed to a trickle, he bandaged her up, putting his own jacket on her for warmth.

Stark cursed again. “I’ve got to reboot the whole system! Fantastic. Okay, everything is going to turn off in three, two, one.” All of the lights flickered out. “Should only take ten minutes.” A flashlight flicked on in the darkness.

“Why are you so concerned?”

Stark looked away from the window. It was dusk, so there wasn’t much light. “Hmm?”

“Why are you helping her? I mean, she literally just said she’d rather be on my side than yours.”

Stark sighed. “Well, you know, she’s Lily. She says what she thinks, and doesn’t care what others think about her opinions. And, to be quite honest, she’s right. I shouldn’t really blame you. You were just another pawn in their game. So were my parents. And like she said, you had no control over what you did, so I guess… I guess I kind of was a jerk. Or an idiot, whichever. And… I guess… I’m sorry for being, uh… stupid. About you, I mean. I shouldn’t’ve been so quick to judge. So, yeah.” He put his hand out. “Truce?”

Bucky shook his hand, smiling slightly. “Truce.” The power flicked back on.

“Ah! Power! Friday, how we looking?”

“Operations are back online. What do you need, sir?”

“Add James Buchan Barnes to the system.”

“Adding. Anything else?”

“Activate defense system five.”

“Starting.” There were cries from the other floors.

“What’s defense system five?”

“Shoots all moving life forms not in the system with tranquilizer. That’s why I had to add you. Alright, I think we can make a run to the medical bay. You can carry her, right?”

Bucky picked up Lily. She didn’t weigh very much. “Yeah.”

“Friday! Get me a suit!” Tony’s suit came flying and surrounded him. “Okay! Let’s do this!” They ran, or flew, in Tony’s case. They got all the way into the medical bay, Hydra agents firing on them before falling to the ground, paralyzed by the darts.

Tony quickly ripped off the bandages and put her into the cradle. “There. She should be alright, provided we keep it on and keep her in the cradle.” A hammering started on the door.

“Should we…” Bucky ventured, “You know, if it’s Steve…”

Tony shook his head, worried. “If it were Steve, or any of the other Avengers, the door would recognize them, and let them in. That means that there is a Hydra agent out there.” The door started to glow from heat. Tony let loose some words he hoped Lily couldn’t hear. “They’ve got a welding tool!” Bucky got ready to fight, Tony aiming his suit’s weapons at the door. But he never got the chance to use them.

A smoke grenade was launched into the room, and no one could see as a gas bomb was also released, filling the room with a knockout gas that left Tony and Bucky unconscious on the floor.

Men in gas masks gently lifted Lily out of the cradle. “We got what we came for. Let’s get out of here. Nobody saw, nobody noticed, as the five men in gas masks climbed out of the Tower, and nobody noticed as they disappeared into the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reconciliation! Because I don't want to write everybody mad at each other!


	8. Brother, Let Me Be Your Fortress...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title for this one is actually from some christian song, but I thought that this particular verse (it keeps going for a few chapters) fit very well

“Hello?” no answer. “Helloooo. Anybody home? I’m bored in here. Hey! Can you hear me? And how come I can’t turn invisible? Or intangible? Come on, y’all’ve got to at least answer my questions!”

“Lily?”

Lily’s head whipped around. “Pietro! I found you! Oh, that is _fantastic_! Now I can… Do nothing, I guess. Fantastic. What’s going on?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Since I snuck out that once, I’ve been locked in here. Nothing from the outside world.”

“Well, that is absolutely fantastic. Oi! I _know_ there’s a camera in this room, as well as a P.A. system, so stop being silent, you bastards! Tell me why I can’t turn invisible or shapeshift or go intangible!”

There was a crackling over the P.A. “You can’t come into contact with vibranium. It negates your powers. We secured you with a vibranium bracelet.”

Lily examined the metal cuff around her wrist. “Oh. And I figured it just was to zap me if I did something wrong.”

“It does that too.”

“Great. Would you be so kind as to tell me why I’m here?”

“Mhm. Probably experiments or blood testing. I don’t know, I just man cameras and com systems.”

“Thanks anyway.”

“You’re welcome.” Lily heard some cursing in the background, along with an order to ‘shut up and stop talking to the prisoner, and to turn off the P.A.’ It didn’t shut off. Lily heard the guy on coms ask what they were going to do with her, and the other guy said she was bait.

Then a door slammed in the distance, and her informant was back on. He didn’t seem to be much older than her. “I hope you were listening.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for that.”

“My pleasure.”

Pietro’s astonished voice floated over. “Are you making friends with the person on the P.A?”

“I have a name, you know.”

“It’s not like you ever told us what your name is.”

“Ouch. True. Hi, my name is Jack, what’re your names? Nobody ever tells me anything.”

“Hi! My name is Lily, and the guy with the thick accent is Pietro.”

“Pleasure to meet you both.”

Pietro rolled his eyes towards heaven. “Did they _never_ teach you not to give your name to your kidnappers?”

Lily put on her most hurt voice. “Well, he gave us _his_ name. It’s only fair we give him ours. Jack, you wouldn’t happen to know how to get this bracelet off, would you?”

“No, ma’am, I’m afraid I do not. And I probably am not supposed to tell you that anyway.”

“Worth a shot anyway. You seem pretty nice, Jack, so why are you here?”

Jack sighed. “My dad works here. He’s not very smart, and when my teacher declared a day take your kid to work day… They couldn’t exactly let me leave.”

“Why don’t you leave on your own?”

“Let me tell you the truth here; I may have a bit more freedom than you two, but I’m as much of a prisoner here as you are.”

**_____________**

 

“Wait, so you’re telling me that she was kidnapped? While you were hit by a gas bomb?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect her, I tried.”

“No, it’s okay, I don’t blame you. Either of you. But, if she was kidnapped…”

“What are you thinking Steve?”

“Well, she is a U.S. citizen… and if she’s been kidnapped… It shouldn’t be too hard to get permission for a rescue mission.”

**______________**

“Okay, Jack, you think you can help us get out of here? Once we’re out of these cells and I get this bracelet off, we can come get you. You won’t have to worry.”

“I don’t know…”

“I promise we won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“Wait, someone’s coming your way! I gotta go! Talk to you later!” the com abruptly shut off, and a man walked in. He headed straight to Lily’s cell.

“Hey! Where are you going! Leave her alone!”

The man stopped in front of Pietro’s cell “I did not give you permission to speak, _enhanced_.” He said it like an insult.

“I don’t need your permission, you-” he suddenly stopped, seeming to choke on his next words. A muffled sob broke out from his cell.

“Pietro! What did you do to him,” Lily yelled as the man came around the corner, “What did you do!”

“I showed him where he belongs,” the guy replied, voice as smooth as honey, “the little parasite came in through a hole in the universe. He’s not from this world, you know. He’s from another world, parallel to this one. Thanos has the ability to go between these worlds. His world was a hellhole. Chaos and terror everywhere. His sister was dead instead of him, and so were all of the other Avengers. Thanos offered him a job. All he had to do was to help Thanos defeat the Avengers. He refused. And then he snuck on board Thanos’ ship. He threw him out when he found him hiding, of course, and that’s when we found him. He’s ripping a hole in the universe, and the instant we figure out how to send him back,” he made a flicking motion, “We will throw him back and save the universe.”

“Oh, don’t go Torchwood on me! You don’t care about the universe! You just want power! And I bet you’ll find a way to harness energy from the hole and turn it into a weapon, and that’s why you’re keeping him.”

“How clever of you. Aren’t you the right little hero. Although,” he whispered conspiratorially, “between you and me, there actually isn’t a hole. We just want him to wallow in guilt when we tear the universe apart. But, believe it or not, I actually have a reason to be here. Let’s begin.” He reached out a hand out towards her head, and she was thrown into a world of nightmares.

**_____________**

 

“Let’s start with the basic fears. Darkness.” Lily was surrounded in a smothering darkness. Whatever. It would be light eventually.

“No? Let’s see… Spiders.” The darkness dissolved into thousands of spiders. Lily made a sound of disgust. Well, at least they ate flies.

“Snakes.” A memory this time, her parents were out and a snake had gotten into the house. She didn’t know what kind of snake it was. She picked up her little brother and ran, faster than she ever had in her life up the stairs, to Kylie, to safety.”

“Oh, great. You’ve got a sister attached to that one. Fire.” Mmmm. Good for roasting marshmallows. Sitting in a campsite, looking at the stars with her parents and siblings.

“Stupid Texans and your camping.”

“Hey!”

“Let’s try heights.” Up on a mountain, ooo, mountain hikes, they had always been so pretty, remember Jenny Lake, with the ripples of different blues, that breathtaking scene?

“Stop it! Drowning!” Another memory, in a pool, nobody was there, she couldn’t breathe, pure terror and a need for air, gasping, why had she wandered away from the shallows?

“Ah. I found it. Drowning, huh? I guess I’ll leave you here for a while. See you later.” And the little slime ball was out of her mind, leaving her to drown.

**______________**

 

“Lily! Lily!”

Save me.

“Lily! Are you okay, Lily?”

Help me.

“Lily, snap out of it! It’s a nightmare!”

I’m drowning.

“Lily!” another voice, older than the panicked teen’s voice. “Lily, listen to me!”

Drowning.

“It only exists as long as you let it!”

Dying.

“You’re fueling it with your fear, you have to let go!”

Help.

“Come back to us, Lily, come on!”

No. Not drowning. Fighting. Fighting to live. Fighting to breathe. And if she could struggle to the surface as a four-year-old… then she could break out of her fears as a four _teen-_ year-old.

“Ah! What happened?!”

Jack’s panicked voice came on. “Thank goodness! I thought you were _dead_! Some guy touched you on the forehead, and you collapsed! Then he left, but you stayed on the floor.”

“Pietro?”

“Yes?”

“Was that you talking to me?”

“Yes. I knew what you were going through, and I knew I had to get you out of it.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime. I’m here for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fear of drowning will come in later, because I recently discovered that my greatest fear was not snakes, it was drowning.


	9. I'll Never Leave You All Alone

“Okay. Everybody ready?”

“Hold it. I’m sorry, Lily, you need a key to open the cuff. And Mr. Mind-man has the only key. The only thing I can do from here is make the key hole visible.”

“Do that.”

“Will it help?”

“Possibly.” There was a shimmering on her cuff and a tiny keyhole appeared on the cuff. Lily shoved a safety pin that was on her shirt into the keyhole.

“Oh, Lily, that only works on TV. Or in a movie. You can’t pick that lock.”

“No,” she replied, “But I can break it.” There was a tiny _snap_ , and the cuff tumbled off. “Aww, yeah! Go tendency to break everything!”

“How did you… never mind.” Lily phased through her cell’s bars. She found the keys and unlocked Pietro’s cell.

“Thank you.”

“Well, I was hardly going to leave you in there. I’d never leave you all alone. What if freaky mind guy came back?”

“Hey guys?” Jack’s voice was back, and he sounded a little frantic. “I hate to break up your touching little party down there, but I had to barricade myself in here, and they’re trying to get in. I don’t know how long I’ll last.”

“Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a June Rebellion,” Lily muttered, “Okay, Jack, we’re coming for you! Can you give us directions?”

“Yeah, directions, not my strong suit. Do you think Pietro could throw you straight up?”

“Of course I can. But she’ll hit the roof!”

“Not if I’m intangible, I won’t. If you throw me hard enough, I should be able to get to Jack’s floor!”

“I’m actually right above you, so don’t throw her too hard.” Pietro made a cradle with his hands, and Lily stepped into it, steadying herself using his shoulder.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Of course. He risked his life for us, we can’t just leave him here alone!”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” He hoisted her into the air, and she became intangible just as she hit the ceiling, soaring through a layer of solid rock into the floor above.

A boy who could only be Jack jumped. “Ah! Geeze, Lily, that’s freaky as heck!”

“Grab my hand, we’re going back down.”

“Lily? Un mas problema. _You_ can go through, but I can’t.”

“Take my hand.”

“Were you not listening to a word I said?”

“Stop griping and take my hand. It’s easier to show than tell.” Jack hesitated before taking her offered hand. She promptly turned intangible, but, he discovered, to his surprise as he fell through a layer of stone, he had too.

“Incoming!” Pietro looked up at the two teenagers falling through the ceiling and cursed. They were going to land right on top of him. And they did. All three of them collapsed into a heap on the ground.

“You didn’t tell us you could turn intangible!”

Jack looked just as surprised as Pietro. “I can’t!”

Lily coughed. “Oh, you know, don’t ask the _one_ person who can become intangible, and _might_ know what’s going on.”

They both turned on her. “What’s happening?”

She smiled smugly. “I can turn objects I’m touching intangible as well. It takes some energy, though, so I won’t be able to do it again. Keeping that in mind, let’s get out of here.” They carefully made their way through the dark hallways. Eventually, however, they set off an alarm, and then they were running for their lives.

“You had to set off the trap, didn’t you Jack?!”

“Sorry!”

Lily stopped suddenly. “Nope. I’m not going any farther.”

“What?! Lily, come on, we have to move!”

“Sorry, Jack. I’m not going through there.”

“Why not?!”

“What if it breaks?”

“For goodness’ sake Lily, the aquatic tunnel will not break!”

“But what if it does? Those things make me sick to my stomach.”

“What. Are. You. Talking. About.”

“All that water over my head in a glass tube…” she shivered. “No thanks.”

They heard angry shouts behind them, and Lily’s face turned white. “Get out of here! Both of you!”

“Oh, for the love of…” Pietro ran back down the tunnel, picked her up and ran through it.

“There. That wasn’t so bad.”

“That was awful!”

“Don’t move.” Lily whirled around. A man was holding a gun to Jack’s head. Jack looked terrified. Another man snuck up behind her, and she punched his face without even looking.

“I said, don’t move.” Almost too quickly for the eye to see, Lily scooped up the gun of the fallen man, cocked it and pointed it at Jack’s kidnapper.

“You won’t.”

“Try me,” she snarled, “Last time I picked up a gun, I _killed_ a man.”

“And it’s haunted you ever since, hasn’t it?” His voice was soft and mocking. “You never got over it.” They had a staring match for a minute. Then, Lily’s arms wobbled, and the gun clattered to the floor. Other men came forward and clapped another vibranium bracelet on her wrist while wrangling Pietro. They were taken back to their respective cells, Jack now in a cell next to them. Lily had never in her life felt so alone.


	10. I'll be There to Light the Way

“What do you mean, _no_?”

“I mean no. The Stark Tower was attacked, and you were defending yourselves, which is why we’re letting it slide. But this is basic kidnapping. Let the police handle it.”

Steve pointed a finger out the door. “This is not ‘basic kidnapping.’ This is a terrorist group!”

The secretary smiled slightly, but it was the kind of smile you’d expect from a crocodile. “We can’t let you go after her. It’s one kid from Mexico. We can’t risk everything for her.”

“She’s not from Mexico,” growled Steve, “She’s from Texas. She is a citizen of the United States, and I expect you to treat her as you would any _other_ citizen.”

“But she’s _not_ ‘any other citizen,’ is she? She’s… _enhanced_. Like you. Let her burst her own way out. Dismissed.” Steve growled and left the room.

**____________________**

 

“He said _no_?!”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Well, what the hell are we supposed to do now?”

“Attack them anyway.” Everybody looked in surprise at Wanda. “We can’t live our lives scared of the law, especially when others are in danger.” Her eyes were hard as steel. “We have to strike now.”

**________________**

Jack lifted his head. He could have sworn he’d heard… Shouts rang up the hallway, and he jumped in excitement. The Avengers! Lily had said they’d be here, but he had had his doubts.

Lily looked up as Bucky ripped the door of her cell off of its hinges. He also ripped the cuff of, and picked her up. “We’re getting out of here.”

“What about Pietro? And Jack?”

“Wanda’s got Pietro. Who is Jack?”

“A friend. He risked his life to help us. We can’t leave him!”

“Okay. Where is he?

**______________**

 

Jack looked at Lily, who was outside of his cell. “Hi.”

“You ready to get out of here?”

“More than.” He got up… and then suddenly wasn’t there. Lily yelped. He appeared behind her. “What?”

“You… you disappeared!”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. I can jump into an animal, or human’s shadow. That’s what I did. I don’t know how, so save your breath.” She nodded and he followed her and her… bodyguard? Jack realized that _this_ was the _Winter Soldier_. Probably shouldn’t call him a bodyguard, then.

**_________________**

 

“I don’t know what’s happening! I can’t control him!”

 Captain America held a struggling Pietro Maximoff. “How do we fix it?”

“I don’t know!”

“There’s a machine,” piped up Jack, “That controls hi. They based it off of your,” he nodded to Wanda, “DNA. It only controls him right now, because Hydra can’t figure out how to make it work outside of your DNA set. If you destroyed it, it wouldn’t work on him anymore.”

Lily was already gone.

**__________________**

 

Lily stumbled towards the mind controlling machine. It belched back smoke where she’d shot it, but as still working. Some kind of energy shield was preventing her from moving very fast.

“Give it up,” howled the mind control man, “You’ll never reach it! I’ll destroy you first! I have vibranium bullets!” He aimed his gun at Lily.

Lily grabbed a gun from a fallen guard and shot the man, who collapsed backwards with a yell. She kept going. She was almost there… She could see the DNA sample. All she had to do was destroy it.

A gunshot rang out, and a searing pain filled her leg. She stumbled, nearly falling. Apparently, she hadn’t shot her tormenter dead, and his gun was now aimed at her. She soldiered on. Another bullet hit her, right in the shoulder. She fell to her hands and knees and crawled towards the machine.

The others burst in, and made an immediate beeline for the man. Lily managed to pull herself onto the platform, and pull the DNA sample from the machine. Immediately, Pietro’s gaze turned from murderous to murderous-towards-the-mind-controller. Lily lifted her foot above the vial and brought it smashing down The sample leaked onto the ground, and the mind controller screamed. One more gunshot sounded, this time the bullet hitting right beneath her heart.

Pietro roared and ran the man, as fast as he could, until he slammed him into a wall. The man slid to the ground, and Pietro ran to where the others were already gathered around Lily.

“Hey… Tony… I figured out why I have powers…”

“Hush. Hold still, you need to save your strength.”

“Oh, we all know I won’t survive this one. Even Texans aren’t quite that tough.”

He let out a strangled laugh. “I still say you have an accent.”

“I _don’t_! anyway, it’s not my DNA.”

“It’s your brain, isn’t it? Your beautiful imagination?”

“Yeah. It’s better connected to my body. Like that movie. My powers… they’re connected to my personality. I’m not noticed, despite my best efforts. I have invisibility and intangibility. It’s… It’s a miracle.” She turned to the rest of them. “Ya’ll have been the best friend a girl could ask for. Thanks for everything. Bucky, be who you want to be. Jack…” She smiled and leaned back on Steve. “Do something big, will you? Change the world for the better.” She smiled a little, just a ghost of her cheerful self, and stopped breathing. Steve felt her pulse, already knowing the result. Nothing.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I am apparently unable to write a fan fiction without death. But wait, one more chapter because the miracle thing has to come back and bite Tony.


	11. Through the Storm

 

“Hey, Cap.”

Steve smiled a little at Tony. “Hey.”

Tony sat down on the couch next to Steve. “You miss her, don’t you?”

“Yeah. She was just a blazing ball of sunshine that left too soon.” He sighed.

“How’s Jack doing?”

“Pretty good. He’s figured out how to control shadows as well as jump into them.”

“That’s good. Hey, tell Friday to do something.”

Steve frowned. “Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Fine. Friday… play Courtesy of the Red White and Blue.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You would like a song with that name.”

“Hey! It was Lily’s favorite! Why isn’t Friday playing it?”

“Friday disappeared. Lily?”

An irritated voice snapped from the ceiling. “What do you want this time?”

“Steve wants to say hi.”

A gasp. “Oh! Hi Steve! Guess what? I’m a computer now. I downloaded myself. Stark’s trying to make me a robot body.”

“But how…”

Tony grinned. “Sometimes inexplicable things happen, things we can’t explain with science. We call them miracles.”

A loud exhale sounded from the ceiling, and both Avengers laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the long exhale was her holding her breath, because he told her not to. Courtesy of the Red White and Blue is an actual song by Toby Keith. It's a country song, and it's awesome


End file.
